Ergh! The weather closed in again today making birding conditions almost impossible. Being sat in a hide was a winning tactic and in Brands Bay a flock of 100 Brent Geese and 12+ Pintail. In Bramble Bush Bay 20+ Sanderling and in Shell Bay a single Eider Duck. Middlebere was saw c300 each of Avocet, Lapwing, and Black-tailed Godwit. Up on Old Harry the Black Redstart was seen again and there was a sad discovery of a dead Great Northern Diver on the southern Brownsea Shore which when inspected looked to have died of starvation. It showed almost no muscle or fat on the breastbone and an inspection of its stomach (dissected professionally), to check for plastic found nothing other than the tips of a few crab claws so it was obviously hungry. Poor thing! A night ringing session at Lytchett Bay saw 2 new Woodcock ringed and a Fieldfare.

Great Northern Diver washed up on Brownsea Beach – Rob Farrington

Woodcock and Fieldfare ringed at Lytchett Bay – Paul Morton

Well, that was the break in the weather we needed. Flat calm waters and bright sunshine allowed for some excellent birding around the harbour today with plenty seen. Several highlights included a Red-necked Grebe which entered the harbour at dawn along with 3 Eider, 16 Red-breasted Merganser and 76 Shag with 255 Brent Geese counted leaving the harbour. From our school bird boat which toured the whole harbour pretty much we had 2 Great Northern Diver (1 Brands Bay and 1 over Hamworthy Beach), 6 Black-necked Grebe (central harbour and South Deep), 1 Slavonian Grebe (South Deep), c150 Great Crested Grebe, c150 Red-breasted Merganser, c50 Goldeneye, 34 Spoonbill (Shipstal), 3 Sandwich Tern, c400 Avocet, c60 Bar-tailed Godwit and c1500 Dunlin on the Brownsea Lagoon. Later in the day 6 Eider were counted off the Houseboats at Bramble Bush Bay with 2 Great Northern Diver, 1 Red-throated Diver, 6 Black-necked Grebe, 25 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Goldeneye and 2 Common Scoter. Off Middle Beach, Studland there were 23 Black-necked Grebe, 1 Great Northern Diver and 2 Common Scoter and on Shell Beach there were 32 Sanderling with 3 Black-necked Grebe in the bay. At Lytchett Bay/Heath a really late Reed Warbler was seen which is without doubt the latest Poole Harbour record and in the reeds at the end of Lytchett Heath were c15 Bearded Tit. There was a Short-eared Owl out on Hartland at dusk and a ringtail Hen Harrier was seen on Slepe Heath. At the PC World drain there were a minimum of 8 collybita Chiffchaff, again one in full song. In Brands Bay there was a Great White Egret with the same or potentially another at Little Sea, Studland and 2 more Great Northern Diver. And finally in Poole Park there were 5 Goldeneye, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Kingfisher and 7 Little Grebe meaning we had a full suit of winter grebes in the harbour today. Finally a piece of passerine news, there was a Black Redstart up at Old Harry this morning. A great winter birding day!

Sanderling – Shell Beach – Ian Ballam

Red-breasted Merganser – Poole Park – Ian Ballam

Sighting of the day has to go to a Great White Egret on the main Poole Park boating lake this morning. Admittedly they’ve become a regular species across the county in the last couple of years, but for them now to just be ‘turning up’ in the centre of Poole is quite incredible. It didn’t stay too long and soon flew up and off towards Holes Bay. At Holton Lee there was a Marsh Harrier and on Holton Pools 1 Green Sandpiper and 4 Black-tailed Godwit. Off Poole Quay a Common Guillemot was bobbing around on the water and in Bramble Bush Bay there was 5 Eider, 2 Goldeneye, 2 Black-necked Grebe, 28 Red-breasted Merganser, 10 Ringed Plover and a Peregrine. There was a report of a Long-eared Owl flying around at twilight on top of Hartland which if confirmed would be the first for the harbour since April 2013! In Lytchett Bay there were 100+ Avocet along with good numbers of Teal and Wigeon with a Green Sandpiper and 40+ Lapwing on Lytchett Fields.

Common Guillemot – Poole Quay – P Brown

Great White Egret – Poole Park – Ian Ballam

Another grey blustery day, but the discovery of a Yellow-browed Warbler in Broadstone in Twin Oakes Close was a surprise. They weren’t as conspicuous this autumn as they have been in recent years, but it’s still no surprise that the odd one or two still choose to over winter here on the south coast. In Bramble Bush Bay 5 Eider were just off the beach and there were 11 Black-necked Grebe off Middle Beach, Studland. There were 10 Cattle Egret down towards Holmebridge which we think is the furthest west they’ve been noted and there were another 5 in the field with cattle at the top end of Holme Lane. At Lytchett Fields there were c100 Lapwing and a Marsh Harrier, in Poole Park 7 Goldeneye, 6 Red-breasted Merganser, 1 Sandwich Tern and 7 Redwing and along Baiter 4 Ringed Plover, 5 Turnstone, 1 Kingfisher, 68 Brent Geese, 14 Dunlin and 2 Great Crested Grebe. Holes Bay north was still rammed with mainly Wigeon and Black-tailed Godwit.

Common Buzzard – Holes Bay – John Pick

Today was another wash out, but with all this wind surely its blown plenty into the harbour? After the constant winds and storms of 2013/14 we ended up with a harbour maximum count of 16 Great Northern Diver around the harbour. Ok, it hasn’t quite been that bad, and it is only December 1^st but its well worth getting out checking every nook and cranny of the harbour for a sheltering Red-necked Grebe, a secretive Surf Scoter or perhaps a mis-placed Murrelet!! In our dreams. Through the wind and the rain the 15 Cattle Egret at Holme Lane were still present, there were 2 Egyptian Geese at Sunnyside Farm. Poole Park still held 7 Goldeneye and 2 Red-breasted Merganser.

Winter is great for high totals and with the weather clearing today it allowed for some proper counting to be done. Lytchett Bay/Fields was brimming with birds with totals of 561 Lapwing on the fields and in the bay 1345 Teal, 521 Wigeon, 255 Black-tailed Godwit, 132 Avocet, 85 Oystercatcher, 80 Redshank, 60 Dunlin, 56 Brent Geese, 55 Curlew, 6 Red-breasted Merganser and 9 Gadwall. On the Brownsea Lagoon there were 2000+ Dunlin, 4 Knot, 60+ Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Spotted Redshank, 500+ Avocet and 14 Greenshank. In Middlebere a single Spoonbill was feeding with 30 on Shipstal Point, Arne and at the top end of Middlebere, its still an Avocet fest with a flock of 500+ still wowing the crowds at Arne. The Cattle Egret flock were mostly along Holme Lane today (15 of them). In Poole Park there were 10 Goldeneye, 3 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 Mandarin Duck and there was finally a Great Northern Diver in the harbour with one off Baiter Park. 

The less said about today the better! All the harbour ‘regulars’ would have been out there somewhere but due to the dodgy weather not a lot was reported. For views it seems Poole Park and Upton CP seem favoured spots with birders as some smart winter species such as Goldeneye, Pintail, Red-breasted Merganser, Shoveler and Pochard have all been on show at close quarters. We’re hoping once all this foul weather blows on through then the harbour will have a good mix of open water species such as Great Northern Divers, Scoters and perhaps more Long-tailed Duck or two!

Northern Pintail – Holes Bay – Rene Goad

Eurasian Teal – Holes Bay – Rene Goad

The storm and strong winds continued into today and sadly we weren’t able to conduct a sea watch, which could have been quite productive. The only main highlights from a pretty dire day were 17 Cattle Egret in Nutcrack Lane and then along Holme Lane. On Poole Park boating lake a single (now scarce) Pochard was present with 7 Goldeneye. In the west of the harbour 3 Marsh Harrier were a welcome site around Swineham seeing as they’ve been pretty scarce this autumn/winter so far.

Pochard – Poole Park – Ian Ballam

We love a bit a wind! What a classic day for a sea watch as the strong SE wind blew. We did a watch from Branksome Chine before the really horrid weather front came in mid afternoon. It proved quite successful as saw divers on the move with 6 Great Northern Diver passing west out in Poole Bay and another settled on the water, plus 4 Red-throated Diver including one settled just off the beach too, plus a possible Black-throated Diver. Also logged were 6 Kittiwake (mostly 1^st winters), 3 Med Gulls, 24 Auk sp, 1 Dunlin, 1 Gannet, 2 Red-breasted Merganser and 4 Great Crested Grebe all heading west. Baiter Park is always worth a check in foul weather at this time of year with the added bonus that you can use your car as a bird hide! Out on the playing fields were 112 Brent Geese, 72 Dunlin, 2 Greenshank, 4 Common Redshank, 3 Turnstone, 2 Ringed Plover, 8 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Med Gull, 1 Sandwich Tern and c70 Oystercatcher. At the harbour mouth 2 Sandwich Tern were fishing in Shell Bay. In Middlebere the c500 strong flock of Avocet were still present and good numbers of Black-tailed Godwit, lapwing, Teal and Wigeon.

The calm before the storm! A fairly foul weather system is due to set in tomorrow so it was nice to take advantage of a cold, crisp November day. The Upton CP ‘stone bench’ was offering excellent views of a range of species including c500 Black-tailed Godwit, c20 Dunlin, c20 Redshank, 5 Pintail and plenty of Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck and several Shoveler. Its also a good place to stand and familiarise yourself with calls of species that would otherwise be tricky to learn. The inane chattering of Black-tailed Godwit can easily be heard from the bench, as can the excited whistle of Wigeon and gentle ‘pinging’ of Teal. Its well worth learning these sounds at places you can marry the call to the bird visually so that when your next at a location where the visibility isn’t too good, you can still ID species by call…a great way to boost your day list! It was another three-egret day today with 18 Cattle Egret at Nutcrack Lane, 1 Great White Egret in the Little Sea roost and the usual spread of Little Egret dotted around the harbour. Off Jerry’s point there were 3 Black-necked Grebe and 3 Eider (2 females and a 1^st winter). In Lytchett Bay there were 150 Avocet, 57 Brent Geese and a Marsh Harrier quartering over Otter Island. In the PC World drain there was a minimum of 5 collybita (Common) Chiffchaff with one even in full song, however there are currently no signs of any tristis (Siberian) Chiffchaff yet.

Cattle Egret – Holme Lane – Ian Ballam